Medical Board tests negative for relevance

The lack of student representation on the newly appointed Medical Training Board is a major impediment to meaningful training development the Green Party says.

The Green Party joins the New Zealand Medical Students’ Association in their concerns that the new Training Board does not have any representation from the key stakeholder group - medical students.

“Given that Cullen’s vision for the Medical Health Board was to “maximise the fit of our new graduates with their work environment”, it seems entirely counter-productive to appoint a board with not one student perspective to draw from,” Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

“Student representation and needs must be taken into consideration by the Training Board, and since its purpose is to advance the training of learners, it seems baldly neglectful to omit their direct input.

“Frankly, it’s an old fashioned, hierarchal thinking to consider that students are not able to contribute to their own development. Clearly, Dr Cullen does not consider relevancy to students to be a consideration for the Training Board.”